Clarke flips the bird to a cold and uncaring universe in this gem of an interview.

TSN.ca Staff

9/13/2006 1:35:35 PM

For all the NHL general managers, or anyone else for that matter, who are enraged over the Philadelphia Flyers' offer sheet to Vancouver's Ryan Kesler, Flyer GM Bob Clarke has a message:

"I don't give a (expletive deleted) if nobody likes me, I could care less," Clarke told TSN. "But they shouldn't be getting mad at me, I didn't put the (offer sheet) rule in the collective bargaining agreement. If they're mad, they should call Gary Bettman and complain to him. Get mad at Gary Bettman. He's in charge of the rules, not me. I didn't realize there were some rules we're not allowed to use."

Clarke said he knew when he extended the one-year, $1.9 million offer sheet to the 22-year-old Kesler, a 10-goal scorer last season who was on the verge of re-signing for half that much with the Canucks, that he would incur the wrath of his brethren.

Too bad, Clarke said.

"I'm trying to make my team better," Clarke said. "There's a rule that says we can put out offer sheets. So I did it. You know, it's funny, they made new rules so we're operating in a system where we all get to spend the same amount of money. Philadelphia and Detroit can't spend any more than Nashville or Anaheim. Those are the rules. We all live by them. No one can accuse Philadelphia or Detroit of spending more money than everyone else now. But when I go and use a rule that is there, everybody is all over me about it."

And Clarke was just getting warmed up.

"To me, our thinking is completely backward," Clarke said. "I lost Kim Johnsson to (unrestricted) free agency because the Minnesota Wild gave him $4.8 million. Well, the Flyers had to give (revenue sharing) money to Minnesota and other teams and I don't like that but it's the rules. And then Minnesota takes that money and signs my player and there are no rules to say I can keep him if I match. I wish I had all the options with Kim Johnsson that Vancouver has with Kesler. They can match and keep him or they can let him go. It's up to them."

As for those who suggest Clarke should not have tendered the offer sheet because Vancouver will match and the market value for 22-year-old, 10-goal scorers will be inflated, Clark took umbrage with that.

"Sure, in the old system, teams always matched offer sheets but this is a new system with a salary cap and you have to make hard decisions that affect your team not just for this year but the years to come, too," Clarke said. "I don't know that Vancouver will match. Maybe we get the player. That's the idea. It's a few days to training camp, the player wasn't signed and we have a need for that type of player in our organization. Why wouldn't I try it? Everyone says it's causing salaries to go up. That's crap. We've all got salary caps and if it is true it drives up salaries, well, doesn't Boston signing (Zdeno) Chara to a $7 million deal or Chicago signing (Martin) Havlat to a $6 million deal drive up salaries, too? Give me a break.

"A lot of guys in this league like the rules when it suits them and they don't like them when it doesn't. Too bad for them. I'm just playing by the rules that are there. To be honest, I'm surprised more teams aren't doing it.â€

Kim Johnson was just the beginning me thinks Clarke, if you piss on every ones leg chance are they won't forget. Your time is coming sunshine and when you take a 10 goal scorer to arbitration in seasons to come and you get shafted, remeber what you did

With the salary cap in place, what's the benefit of driving up salaries of a player like Kesler, who is not a superstar but a regular NHL player at this point, with potential to develop further? One explanation is that the teams that can afford to spend up to the cap can ensure only they can be competitive. Teams that spend nowhere near the cap cannot possibly ice a competitive team if every good player coming off their rookie contract are making more than a million.

This thinking by Clarke is just stupid. All he's done is drive up the salary of the Kelser type player. Fine, one day when he has a yound prospect to sign and is upo against the the cap this will bite him in the ass.

The only reason this guy still has a job is because he's tight with Snyder.

Brian CC wrote:This thinking by Clarke is just stupid. All he's done is drive up the salary of the Kelser type player. Fine, one day when he has a yound prospect to sign and is upo against the the cap this will bite him in the ass.

Yes, but if this behaviour is spread across the league, then every GM faces the same problem of rising salaries. Teams that don't spend close to the cap has no chance of competing, and Philly remains to be one of the competitive teams.

So Clarke is bitter about revenue sharing. I'll bet the amount he has to contribute isn't as much as they would have spent driving up the salary structure in the first place. Now he has to operate with in a cap and he can't stand it, too bad. So his reaction is to stick his finger in everyone elses eye. That my son will only return to you ten fold. He has some very valuable assts in Pitkanen, Carter, Richards and Nittymaki and if he allows himself to get too close to the cap there will undoubtedly be offers made to his RFA's. It has focussed attention on one issue though and that is the competitive nature of management. If as a GM you think you can drive a hard bargain with an up and coming player and you have allowed yourself to get too tight to the cap...